Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-04-01

pursued tho Atlaaiic and Denyiiie rhifunci; ,,,
They bellovo that the once o. haifos. ''',,
missioner II ono IL great benoat 70 uo vo'p's
n tho committes Is caliod upon to go
further than the scope Of tneso .nrog ' ~, :,
they would here state that tney Donc,o
the administration Of II. q. Mofett, tno ~, 49,
ough and efficient ~ WAS possible undvt ok 49,
ing laws and appropriations from mo pnon'
treasury.
They cannot agree that 10 appears thar tns
Railroad Commissioner has failed to perform
any duty OF his Office: but they believe ms OK
animation OF road-beds bridges, depots, @c.,
has been as thorough as Is c0ntcmpintea "
the laws and as could BIO under the snhh ap-
pfopriaiicns Of money for tbet purpose.
II Is not shown or charged that any COM
plant has ever been mado 10 said Com MS
sioncr Of determinations In freight or OF iaii-
uro OF trains 10 make the proper connections
with each other that has not been satisfactorily
investigated and adjudicated by him.
They cannot agree that the records OF tho
office OF Railroad Commissioner have not been
properly kept. IL IL not charged or denied, as
they believe, that any letter or document o.
complaint or paper OF importance has not been
made matter OF record Ia the book OF oniciai
proceedings.
The expenditures cut Of his contingent fund
mas alwaye been leHs than tho annual apprO-
prietions for that purpose.
III III was tDt intentiOu Oh tne To1OiuhOn init
Ing for this investigation 20 20 further than TO
respond TO the three propositions calling for
response. then tbey believe the Investigation
should DO more thorough, the evidence should
be taken and printed, and tho general man
agement OF the office so thoroughly oyerhauied
that fair and impartial judgment upon the
same may be pronounced By the General AS
sembly.
And now, having reported upon all matters
they have believed 10 be rel eyant 10 this mat
ter they pray to DO discharged from its fur
thor consideration. WILLIAM L. BURAs,
n. p. OGLEsBY,
J. v. TAvESNBR.
Mr.. Stribling, member of the COM
mittee, said he thought it unfortunate
that the committee should have re-
ported as 1t did-that it should have
entered into such Wholesale condemna-
ton without fuller investigation.
Mr.. Franklin Republican,, as a
member of the subcommittee, said
that the report made was, he thought,
right. Mr.. Moffett, he claimed, had not
required, and admitted that no had not
required, connections and intersections
to be made at certain points The sub
committee had done just what it had
teen instructed to do-in justice to the
people of the State and to Mr.. Moffett,
the Railroad Commissioner.
Mr.. Cardwell said the two reports
directly conflict, and he for one was
not prepared to vote for the adoption
of either. He believed every member
of the House suffered the same embar-
basement that he did, and he therefore
moved the recommittal of both reports,
in order that the committee might fur
nish the evidence upon which each
based its opinion.
Mr.. Bolen said that it would be alb
solutely impossible for Mr.. Moffett to
90 over every road in the State of Vir-
GINA and examine it. He could not
examine them by riding on the cars,
and if this examination were made a
requirement of the Office the appropria-
ton necessary to carry it on would take
ali the money out of the Treasury.
MIR. Franklin interrupted by saying
that, although the Railroad Commits
sioner had a contingent fund of $500 at
his disposal, he had not spent more
than Sl75.
Mr.. Rolen replied that the balance
was kept in case of incidents or acct
dents. He hoped the committee would
be discharged from the further consid-
Grafton of the subject.
Mr.. Loving, of the committee that
brought in the majority report, desired
to say that in the investigation by the
committee an opportunity had been
given the Railroad Commissioner and
all others interested to make full state
ments that if the House desired they
would give their reasons and evidence
for bringing in the. report they did, but
if they wanted any further investiga-
ton it would be necessary to employ a
stenographer to take down the testi-
mony.
Mr.. Franklin said thai the majority
report presented was strictly in con-
formity with the testimony adduced be-
fore the Committee.
Mr.. Hay thought no reflection had
been cast upon Mr.. Moifett, the present
incumbent, and he intended to vote for
the minority report.
Mr.. O'Bannon favored the minority
report, too.
Mr.. Iillar (Republican), the author
of the resolution which created the
investigation, said that on the night APP
pointed to examine the Office of the
Railroad Commissioner, when they
went to the Office they expected to find
well-regulated Office, but such wasnot
the case. 1t only contained two books,
i'll which the Commissioner, in one,
claimed to keep the letters received,
and the other was ledger, in which
only three pages were written on, all
in the same handwriting and al. at the
same time. This the Commissioner adj
mitted. Mr.. Tillar brought out these
points TO show that it was impossible
to investigate the charge he made
that he had uniustly pursued the At
lantic and Danville Railroad Com
psny. Mr.. Tillar said the Com
missioner had permitted large rail-
road corporations to do rs they pleased,
while he had reported one little narrow
gauge railroad, which only ran about
fifty-fve miles, to the Board of Public
Works. He thought the Commissioner
had not performed his duty, and he
hoped it would be the pleasure of the
House to recommit the matter and let q
full investigation be made. He hoped,
further, that the committee would be
composed entirely of Democrats, and
if he found that the Atlantic and Dan
vile railroad had not been uniustly
pursued it would give him pleasure to
acknowledge it.
The minority report was adopted by
the following vote:
AYEs-Messrs. Arnold, Barbour Bolen, Blu
chanan. Carcwell, Carter, Chalmers, Childress,
DabBey, Dickinson, Downing, Dunlop, Dupay,
Eastwood, Figgat. Abram tulkerson, GOad,
Hay, Huffman, &. f. Jordan. lawson, L0ftWitch,
Lightner, Mauck, Munford, NoDlin, 0'Bannon,
Oglssby. Patton, Payne, Peters, Pollard, Por-
Ter, Powell, Reid, Rice, Roberts. Row, Ruggles,
Ryan, Saunders, Scheduled, Sebrell, Starke.
Strlbling. Taliaferro, Tsvenners Terry, Tillar,
Van DOran, and Wescott-d.
NORs.-Messrs. Acker, Arlington, Borum,
; Brown, Cornett, FaulcoD. Franklin, Rylton.
johnson. Jones, W. II. Jordan, Loving, Me-
Cendlish, Mathews. Moss. Nance, Waddili. and
Wise-iS.
JUDGE OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
The hour Of 2 o'clock having arrived
the House proceeded on its part to the
execution OF the joint order having for
its object the election Of certain judges
&c.
For iudOa of WASHINGTON county Mr.